Posted On Friday, November 20th, 2009 By Jay
L4D2 delivers. Not in the same way that L4D delivers, they are totally divergent experiences of the same universe.
L4D on one hand is an introduction to the cooperative shooter experience known as L4D#. The balancing is great if limited in content. This rifle is my rifle, there are many like it but this is my rifle and I’ll have this one rifle until the finale and if I don’t die, I’ll have this rifle until the final finale. Etc Etc.
That last thought is in high contrast to the pacing and balance of L4D2. Hordes in L4D were overwhelming is scope. The AI director throwing 50-100 infected at the survivors at one time! Different then the various horde structures of L4D2. The AI director is still there. The AI director is still “throwing” hordes but they’ll trickle in gradually. The #s may be the same but I’ll be fighting them longer.
Because the hordes are more spread out, I use more ammunition. Because L4D2 provides other weapon choices more often then an ammo pile I end up switching weapons rather frequently. That is a nice touch.
The levels are arranged differently too. Specifically I find there are fewer long shooting lanes. There’s always Continue Reading
Posted On Monday, September 28th, 2009 By Jay
Continuing with my Things I Like series, I’m going to take this post a little differently. I didn’t like the character introductions on the DAO website. At this point from Bioware, I know that they can write a good story. I know that have some pretty awesome cutscenes. What I want to see is game play footage. And beyond that I want to make sure that the game play footage is worth the 60 bucks I want to give Bioware or will I be waiting for the product to sell for 20 bucks on Steam. Oy!
Here are my reactions:
Does Sex = adult content? Will I have the choice to not mate with the women in my party. Can I just mate with all of them at the same time?
Does blood and violence = adult content?
What kind of moral choices will I be making? *eagerly awaiting the response to this one*
Will it ultimately matter? *damn well better. The choices I made in Mass Effect had little to no effect on the game world.*
Is it a matter of killing or not?
Will the thoughts and feelings of the inhabitants change by way of my actions? Or will NPCs just be missing from the Continue Reading
Posted On Friday, July 31st, 2009 By Jay
New Eve Trailer. Here’s my story.
Read about the Great War(history link 1, history link 2) in February.
Sign up for Eve with a meat space(AKA real life) friend.
Find out he and his corporation are apart of Goon Fleet.
Join Goon Fleet.
Participate in the camping and destruction of system 49-, the last vestige of Delve space owned by Kenzoku.
Participate in the final hours of Kenzoku or B.O.B.’s existence.
I flew the basic newbie ship called a frigate. My job was to tackle, or prevent the escape of enemy pilots. I guarded the various jump gates into and out of the system for a week while my alliance mates destroyed every player alliance owned station in 49-. Every ship counts. I participated in the end game of a war whose life time exceeding 2 years.
Heh… What have you done lately?
Posted On Friday, June 19th, 2009 By Jay
#0.75 Work has been crazy and that means we’re very close to shipping. That’s exciting! Eve and Street Fighter 4 have been dominating my play time.
#1 I love Eve Online’s Skill Development system. More skills = more options. Options include but are not limited to: Bigger ships, industrial focus, auction house focus, crafting focused, making what you use on a ship better, etc etc. It is a true horizontal development system, and I love it!
#2 When I defeat someone in PVP, there is a real world dollar value attached to the defeat. In the smaller frigates, maybe 10 cents a ship. For the later ships, you’re looking at anywhere from dollars to thousands of dollars per kill. And you thought losing a BG in WoW was an inconvenience.
#3 Griefing isn’t stopped in Eve, but the attacker will be destroyed if they engage you. See #2 into why only for the crazy is this an acceptable activity.
#4 Different activities allow for varying levels of player interaction. Mining, crafting and selling are HIGH social activites. Meaning instead of looking at a horrible crafting UI, you can chat while your merchandise is being created. PVP combat is a LOW social activity in that Continue Reading
Posted On Friday, May 29th, 2009 By Jay
#0.75 I cleared one complete side of my desk at work. The empty space that I can see in my peripheral vision must help with productivity. I feel like I’m jamming away.
On to Luminary!!
#1 Point and Click combat. The game isn’t a combat simulator. Click on a mob, whack it until its dead. Combat is a means, not the ends. I likes.
#2 Bejeweled for crafting. Select certain recipes, play bejeweled. Score high, make a better item. Score low, make a weaker item. Next step is to allow me the player to pick from a subset of mini games when I craft. In this way, red/green color blind people don’t struggle with the color choices of Luminary. Yes, I am red/green color blind.
#3 Every recipe in the game is available to you at the start. This works because the material drop rate is controlled by the devs. Instead of having two controls, 1 being the recipe rarity, the other being the material rarity, the created something I call inclusive design. Every player can participate in the economy on any scale. Again the game isn’t about combat, so this makes sense.
#4 Selling on the auction house. The fact that I can Continue Reading
